Once they greased the wheel, now theyre just into
Grease!

By Joanne Nesbit
News and Information Services

U-M
studentsand college students in generalhave been known to
do things that are considered just a little crazy. But in 1908, it
was unusual even for college students to have men dress as women and
sing to raise money.

That is what happened when a group of students began one of the
longest-standing traditions on the Michigan campus. They began
raising funds to build a student union by selling tickets to the
first Michigan Union Opera Production, Michigenda.

The all-male company toured in the fall and occasionally in the
spring, visiting cities with strong Michigan alumni clubs. The funds
garnered from these performances and those given on the campus helped
pay for the construction of the Michigan Union. Additional funds came
from a loan from the Michigan State War Preparedness Board that
wanted to use the building as a barracks for World War I soldiers of
the Students Army Training Corps, SATC.

The first two operas netted enough money to purchase the ground on
which the Union now stands. Subsequent shows helped pay off the bonds
on the building. Those efforts were just distant memories for some in
1984, when a routine cleaning as part of the Unions renovation
uncovered a hidden treasure of pictures, musical scores, programs, 80
rpm records and other Union Opera papers in the east wall of the
Unions Study Lounge. Those items became part of the Bentley
Historical Librarys extensive holdings on the history and
activities of the University.

Most of the early Union Opera productions were written, staged,
and managed by undergraduates and were reported to be burlesque
comedy, often corny, sometimes crude, but always funny. As a
junior, 1909 graduate Roy Dickenson Welch wrote the plot, lyrics and
all the music for the first opera, the three-act comedy
Michigenda. The audience for Michigenda
wouldnt leave until after the fifth encore. Subsequent
operas starred Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon and 1948
presidential nominee Thomas E. Dewey.

Though amateur performances, the 1919 director left a note saying,
Contrary to common opinion, the members of the chorus are not
actors of mediocre ability. They must dance and sing well . . .
[they] must master the complicated steps of the dances, and
obtain unity and precision in their steps and songs.

Not only was the Union Opera an all-male presentation with
football stars and other athletes playing female chorus dancers and
singers, women were not allowed into the Union unescorted. All that
changed in 1956 when women were permitted in the Union and to
audition for parts in the Union Opera.

These female performers forced a change in the name of the Union
Opera to MUSKET, standing for Michigan Union Show, Ko-Eds, Too. That
name still stands today and is synonymous with quality in student
productions.

MUSKET will present Grease! at 8 p.m. Nov. 20
and 21 and at 2 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Power Center for the Performing
Arts. The Nov. 21 performance will be followed by a sock hop in the
lobby immediately following the show. Tickets for all
performances$12, $7 for students with IDare available at
the Michigan League Ticket Office.